Viareggio

On Tuesday this week we drove to Viareggio to visit the boats. We like to park on the working port side of the canal and peak into all the businesses catering to the high end yachts. Things were not as busy as they have been in the past but it was still interesting.

We walked from there to the more touristy part of Viareggio, the long “boardwalk” that parallel’s the beach for miles. However, you cannot see the beach from the pedestrian avenue. Shops and Italian style beach establishments are between the walkway and the sand. All you get is peaks of the beach bars, umbrellas and sand through gaps in the buildings. We walked for a ways, peering in shop windows and discussing fashion among both clothes and electronics, before turning around and heading back the way we came. We looked for a spot for lunch but all the cafes along there look like they pull their pasta dishes out of the freezer and microwave them. 

Finally we decided to cross back over the canal to the working side and find a restaurant where the workers eat. It took a bit of searching (avoiding the white tablecloth places full of men in suits) before we found Big Bambu. It was fabulous! We were seated on a balcony upstairs where it was sunny and breezy. No one in the place spoke English which was just what we wanted. Dom had a great spaghetti al ragu and I had tagliatelle with seafood. Yummy!!

After that it was back to Capannori for naps. After all, we were still suffering from jet lag. :-) 

Here are some photos from Viareggio.

If one runs out of space below one can always store boats on the roof.

A large matte black super yacht.

Up close you could see why it was in the yard. It definitely needs the paint touched up.

There actually seems to be a lot of empty berths in Viareggio. Maybe a lot of yachts have gone out to wherever they spend the summer.

You can see the passage heading towards the outer part of the marina and eventually the Mediterranean.

This is another canal out to open water. Along the right side we often walk out to the end of the breakwater.

There were very few people along the main pedestrian way. Maybe because it was a Tuesday. Maybe it is just too early in the season. In the summer this area is packed!

Along most of the pedestrian avenue, this is what you see when you look between the buildings towards the water.

Food trucks Viareggio-style!

And another food boat! They serve fish and chips, etc. We might have eaten there except there was no place to sit down.

Parallel parking Italian-style

Torniamo in Italia!

Ciao a tutti!

It’s been a very long time, about a year, since my last substantive blog post. Dom and I are finally back in Italy and after the initial confusion of jet lag, phones not working, pigeon poop on the patio, etc. we are settled in and loving it.  Fabulous weather doesn't hurt.

We left Seattle on May 6 and arrived in Paris the next day. It was an uneventful flight but as always we arrived tired and crabby. For various reasons we decided to pick up a car and drive to Capannori from Paris. We hope to spend a day or two in Paris on our way back but we will see how that works out. 

Our flight arrived at 8:30 am and we had our car and were on the road by 10 am. Jet lag allowed us to drive four or five hours before we stopped for the night in Dijon. Yes, the mustard comes from there but it was news to us that the drink Kir Royal (champagne and cassis liqueur) was also invented there. When we got off the autoroute we discovered the town has quite the one way system. It took us several laps before we figured out how to reach the car park at the train station in order to find a hotel. Unfortunately, after we stopped we could not get the key (one of those credit card type fobs) out of its slot. This had us worried and stymied for a bit but we had seen a Renault mechanic while doing laps of town so we pulled out of the car park and went off in search of a solution. My French was barely enough to tell one of the men there we had a problem. From then on it was sign language. However, the slight smile on the man’s face told us this was not the first time he had seen this difficulty. It turned out the fob was inserted the wrong way around and a good pull was all it took. The man also explained that the key fob does not need to be in the slot but only near the Stop/Start button. We haven’t stuck one of the key fobs in the slot since then.

The next day we completed our journey from Dijon to Capannori via the Mont Blanc Tunnel through the French Alps. It was an interesting route but awfully expensive—over Euros 40 just to go through the tunnel plus additional tolls along the way. The mountains were spectacular with fresh snow on the tops. It was gray and chilly before the tunnel but sunny on the far side. The weather got better and better as we headed south.

Once more we have a brand new Renault Clio through the Renault Eurodrive program. These cars are so new that ours arrived with some of the foam bumper pads still attached. You can see one right above the license plate.

I was trying to take pictures of the approaching Alps while we rumbled down the autoroute. Obviously it did not work well.

This one worked better but then we were closer.

I was driving so I stopped to take a few pictures. Here is Dom waiting for me to finish!

We had to stop by Mary and Orlando’s house to pick up keys before going to the apartment. While we were gone the lock, which was always tricky, had frozen up entirely. M&O found a locksmith and had the lock changed and new keys made. They were absolutely fabulous and we really appreciate their friendship. We stayed to chat for a little while but we were tired and anxious to get going so we promised to return soon.

The apartment was in fairly good order—some pigeon poop on the terrace and dusty everywhere. We unpacked and then went downstairs for pizza and beer. Thank heavens for a pizzeria in our building!

The next day (Friday) we had a number of errands to run—get the phones working, renew our chiavetta (pc internet access), go to the bank and stop at the grocery store. By the time we finished all that (mostly successfully) we were ready for naps. 

On Saturday I cleaned the house and we finished getting settled. While we were in Lucca the previous day we had picked up tickets to a jazz concert on Saturday evening and another concert (selections from Puccini’s Tosca) on Sunday evening. The Saturday concert was at 9:15. It is always difficult to drag ourselves out of the house after dinner but we managed to do so. We are not big jazz fans but the concert was enjoyable (good music to doze to!) and it was fun to be out and about in the evening.

On Sunday we were up early for a marcia at San Cassiano a Vico. We loved seeing our Partigliano friends after such a long time and we walked with Mary and chatted all the way. We pretty much napped and read the rest of the day until it was time to go into Lucca for the Puccini concert.

The latter was wonderful. It lasted only about an hour and afterwards we joined the Sunday afternoon passagiata along Via Fillungo. We took note of stores that were new and some that had gone away over the past year as well as the latest fashions displayed in the stores. We kept an eye out for a spot for dinner and finally chose one that was new to us. I cannot remember the name but it is right next to the public toilets (!) one street off of Piazza Grande. We enjoyed a lovely meal followed by cups of gelato on the way back to our car.

This past week we have done a combination of working (me), projects around the apartment, an excursion to Viareggio, and visiting friends. I will do a specific post about Viareggio.

On Wednesday we went to M&O’s and had a tour of their new house that is just up the hill from their current house. Afterwards we retired to the terrace of their current house for Prosecco and nibbles. It was a lovely evening with great friends.

Yesterday we drove up to Partigliano and visited with friends there. It is always great to be back in “our” village among people we have known for years.

We have guests arriving tomorrow and anticipate five days of fun. More to come!

San Marino and One Last Marcia

Yesterday we drove to the other side of the mountains, from Tuscany to Emiglia Romagna. There was a mostra scambio Dom read about that promised lots of car stuff. It proved to be a bit of a dud and more of a giant swap meet with only a small car section. We still enjoyed wandering around and looking at interesting things. I keep telling Dom I could fill up a container full of old Italian furniture, garden art and other objects and sell it all at a profit in Seattle. One of these days...

After we finished at the swap meet we drove up to the Republic of San Marino. Like Vatican City, it is an independent country entirely surrounded by Italy. It is a winding drive that takes one most of the way up a spiky mountain.

 The view of the countryside from the top is pretty spectacular. 

 It is a craggy area with lots of escarpments and upthrust hills.

 The town is fortified but it is all so clean and neat it reminded me of Disneyland.

 We did not see a lot of the town. When we arrived at this piazza we decided to eat lunch at the restaurant under the awnings on the right.

 While we were eating, Dom commented that the temperature seemed to be dropping. Soon it started to rain. 

We thought it would roll through pretty quickly but it didn't. Not only did we not have umbrellas, I did not even have a jacket. We waited for about fifteen minutes until it lightened up and then started to make our way back towards the car (so much for seeing San Marino) keeping under the shop awnings as much as possible.

I stopped in a shop and by the time I was done it was worse--heavy rain, thunder and lightening. We continued on under the awnings until they ended. Luckily, there was a gelateria there. It seemed like a good time to indulge (although hot chocolate might have been more appropriate). We sat inside and watched it rain. All of a sudden it got louder! Hail the size of large peas was pelting down.

 Hail

 I started to get worried about needing boots.

 Gelato and hail do not seem to go together but we managed.

 The hail stopped and the sun came out but it was still raining!

Finally, the rain was light enough that we felt safe heading for the car. We made it without getting too damp thanks to a lot of awnings along the way.  We headed home and we were not too far away before the sun came back out and it was a dry journey back to Capannori.

This morning we got up and headed off for our last marcia podistica of the spring. It was at San Cassiano a Vico, one of our favorite walks not just because it is totally flat.

 The walk route takes us along one of the many artificial stocked lakes in the area. The fisherman were out early.

 The lake looked lovely in the early morning light. I did not notice the reflection until I downloaded this picture.

 Along the way I saw this OLD bicycle leaning up against a large rosemary bush. It looked like someone had created the scene but perhaps the bike was just left there long ago.

This sweet faced donkey was happily munching the weeds along the side of his enclosure. 

Nearby the donkey a setter spaniel was having a wonderful time racing along the inside of the fence and barking at the passing walkers. He moved too fast to get a good picture.

This brings us to the end of our spring 2013 stay in Italy. Tomorrow we clean house and pack up. On Tuesday we head for Nice, France where we turn in our car and spend the night. Our flight to Amsterdam is on Wednesday at 6:25 am. From Amsterdam we head straight to Seattle.

This trip has been immensely fun but it seems to have flown by. We hope to be back in the fall.

A presto!

The Beauty of Isola del Giglio

Isola del Giglio proved to be a beautiful spot. No doubt the sunny warm weather colored our perspective but it truly is a picturesque locale. There were many flowers in bloom. In fact, the rocky hillsides were covered with blooming shrubs. I definitely got carried away with taking pictures of flowers and other photogenic objects. Here are the best of them.

 Pretty cove with local hotel perched above it.

 The mainland in the distance.

 Sea washed stones

 A pocket garden

 A grapevine just leafing out growing across a trellis

 A closer look at the grape leaves and tiny grapes

 Some sort of Chrysanthemum? 

 An old boat 

 The beach had some interesting rock formations

 The spine of a dinosaur?

 I read that the island is predominantly granite. It is rocky with scrubby shrubs, many of which were in bloom.

 A snail attached to a granite boulder

 I think this is what we call "Mock Orange." It certainly smells lovely.

 Geranium

 I think this is a type of Morning Glory, a lovely blue flowering vine.

 Hardy ice plant

 Red poppy

I don't know what this is but it is a pretty trumpet shaped flower, almost magenta in color, but not trumpet vine.

I love this mock jasmine and its perfume but it was not quite in bloom. The plant was covered with buds.

There are lots of lemons on the island. Here are a couple with the buds of future lemons.

A lovely rose to finish things off.

Visiting Isola del Giglio and the Costa Concordia Wreck

A week ago (on Saturday, May 4th) we drove down to Monte Argentario in order to take the boat to Isola del Giglio. The boats leave from the town of Porto Santo Stefano which is close to Orbatello. Of course, Isola del Giglio's main claim to fame these days is that the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground there in January 2012. They are still in the process of removing the wreck and that is one of the reasons we went there.

It was a beautiful day; probably the best day of our entire stay. We left early and discovered that one of our favorite bar/pastry stops has cornetti and sfoglie fresh out of the oven at 7 am. They were scrumptious and the coffee there is always good.

The drive down the west coast of Italy between Pisa and Rome is one we always enjoy. It takes a little longer but the area is less industrial than going through the center of Tuscany. There are rolling hills and glimpses of the sea from time to time. Being late spring everything is a dozen shades of green with the trees and flowers just coming into bloom. I especially enjoy the wild red poppies that splash the landscape with ribbons of color along the roadsides and occasionally whole fields of scarlet.

We arrived in Porto Santo Stefano earlier than expected (that's what happens when you drive like the Italians!) and just in time to catch the 9:45 ferry to the island. It is about a 45 minute trip.

 The ferry was not crowded. We sat inside right up front. Dom is always happy to be "messing about with boats" especially when someone else is at the helm.

 We could see right into the cockpit. The seas were calm so the captain was pretty relaxed. Put 'er on autopilot and wait!

 We could see the wreck from quite a ways away. I never got a very good picture of the island but it is not large and it sticks up out of the water like the top of a mountain peak.

The wreck got closer and bigger,... 

 ...closer and bigger,...

...closer and bigger,...

 ...until we passed right by it.

 This is what it looked like as we passed by into the little harbor at Porto Giglio. There is quite a bit of equipment around it for the salvage effort.

 It is nicely labeled so you don't miss which ship it is.

Going into the harbor a lot of people on the ferry were taking pictures as we passed by.

 This was an interesting vessel. It looks like offices or dormitories.

 Here you can see just how close the wreck is to land. Possibly the captain was trying to bring the ship alongside the port breakwater.

 Our ferry captain docked the boat using remote control. He backed it in and made good use of the bow thrusters.

Once we arrived on the isola, we wandered around through the village. The old building that houses the port office (and probably has for hundreds of years!) drew us closer.

Someone does a nice job of keeping the front of the building picturesque. Note the plaques on the wall above the door. The ones to the right and left list the war dead from WWI and WWII. The center one commemorates the wrecking of the Costa Concordia.

It says something like: In memory of the rescuing of more than 4,000 passengers from the Costa Concordia the night of 13 January 2012, the people of Giglio joined together to exhibit an example of a civil and dependable society. When the ship grounded the people of Giglio took out every boat possible to help rescue the passengers and then opened their homes and hotels to get the people warm and dry.

There are quite a few boats in the small harbor. The island is a popular destination for hikers and scuba divers. You can rent small boats and go explore the many beaches that dot the shore. Giglio has an area of about 3 square miles. There is another small village on the opposite side.

From the breakwater you can, again, see how close the wreck is to he small harbor.

We walked around the village and found several picturesque prospects.

The wreck keeps popping into view.

There were LOTS of photo opportunities. I got carried away taking flower and nature pictures so I will do a separate post devoted to them.

We wandered back into town. Even, or especially, there the wreck dominates everything. I saw these older gentlemen chatting and it brought home how much the Costa Concordia has impacted their everyday life. A shopkeeper told me there are more tourists for this time of year plus all the people working on the project.

We saw a lot of people from our ferry wandering over to this part of the beach which is about as close to the wreck as one can get without scrambling along the rocky shore. Many of them took pictures of themselves with the wreck in the background.

We had coffee with the Costa Concordia...

...before doing our own picture taking. Dom says, "Now THIS is an off!" He means off course or off track.

Me!

Us! (Possible Christmas card photo)

The plan is to tip the wreck upright, patch it up, pump it out, and haul it away to be broken up. The area is all a protected marine park so they do not want to break it up here. It is debatable if all the work necessary to move the wreck is less environmentally invasive that just breaking it up.

After getting "up close and personal" we wandered around the harbor some more.

Here is one of the local dive boats. We had lunch nearby and watched a whole crowd of people getting ready to go out on it for an afternoon dive. 

After our elevenses we wandered up the hill and took more pictures. There is an extensive network of trails all over the island. However, it was hot and we were hungry so we headed back to town.

We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the harbor. It was perfect weather for al fresco dining. We watched boats go to and fro from the wreck. It looked like the workers were getting off for the weekend. At a nearby table in the restaurant we heard three people speaking English and from their conversation they were all working on the project. They all spoke with accents. English is definitely the lingua franca of the world.

After lunch we wandered around a while and had gelato. We ran out of things to do and had to wait until our ferry We sat on benches near the port and read, dozed, and watched the earlier boats come and go. The above ferry loaded vehicles through the nose when going toward the mainland. 

Here is a picture of Monte Argentario from the island. It is a popular vacation spot for Italians but a bit off the beaten path for most travelers.

This post will be followed up by another with the more pictures of Isola del Giglio and its flora.